Spring shackle



July 9, 1935 vR sTEvENsoN I ,2,907,387

SPRING SHACKLE Fild June 20, 1932 Patented July 9, '71(935 SPRING"VSHACKLE Robert Stevenson, West Barrington, It. I.

Application June20, 1932, Serial No. 618,246 l s Claims. (C1A. 267-54)My invention relates `to improvements in vehicle spring shackles. Anobject of myinven` tion`is to provide a spring shackle-which willprovide the desired relative resilient movement between the chassis andthe spring, constructed of a minimum number of simple parts. Mostlshackles on the market today have the upper shackle pintle pivotallymounted on either the upper leaf `spring ora protruding po'rtion'of thevehicle chassis and the lower shackle pintle pivotally secured to thelower leaf spring thereby providing somesort of apivotal movement. It

`has been found in practicahowever, that this typeof a shackle givestoo' much cfa pivoting movement between-f'the'chassis and the springVandvarious devices have been provided to limit this"` pivotal movement.In certain instances push-back buffer spring'sfadapted to'abut theshackle plates themselveshave beenprovided and in other instances rubbershackles have been provided. My inventiolntherefore, aims to provide ashackle which will permit the desired limited amount of pivotal movementand at the vsame-time present a certain amount of friction to thispivotal movement, so asto act in addition as la thrust bearing to takeup some of the shock K of pivotal Ymovement rather Vthan having it Valltransmitted to the springor chassis. I, there-` fore; mount at least thelower pintle eccentri- `cally on cylindrical bearings mounted on theshackle side plates. FDue to the eccentricity of lthe pintle mountings'in `these bearings, it is 'obvious that" the spring endl mayl swing theamount of eccentricity that the pintle is mounted v eccentric of itscylindrical bearings and Yat the" Sametime that the-bearings themselvesmay act as thrust bearings to "take'up a certain amount of that thrustwith their attendant friction against their respective bearing holes. Ifdesired, the

upper shackle pintle may also be mounted eccen-y trically on cylindricalbearings, so as to double the amount of swinging or pivotal movementinherently present. Employing either one of these constructions,however, it is obvious that I largely eliminate the present-day shock instartingv or stopping due to the free pivotal movement of former typesof shackles and tend to eliminate wobbling in the spring itself, therebymaking easier riding andwhen employed in the front lwheels largelyeliminate some of Vthe shimmy. c

A further object of my invention is to eliminate the buffer springshitherto thought necessary to accomplish' these purposes.

A further feature of my invention is to largely eliminate the wear whichtook place in the pivotal mountings in formershackles as all the Lweartakes place in-the'especially constructed bearings, rather thanall'along the` pintle. It is also apparentthat employing the doubleeccen- .tric construction the swinging vrnovementis twice as great dueto theeccentricities of each of the mountings of the pintles in theirbearings;

as may hereinafter appear will be best understood from a description oftheembodiments thereof shown inthe accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, Fig. lis a side elevation of an These and such otherobjects `of my invention embodiment oimy improved shackle mounted on thefront end of an automobile between thek usual projecting chassis partandthe front leaf spring.

Y Fig. 2 `is'a front elevationthereof.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View thereof taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. l'.Y

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of an additional embodiment of my inventionemploying two eccentric mountings mounted von the rear end of'anautomobile between the respective projecting chassis part and the rearend of the leaf spring.

Fig. 5 is a rear elevation of the embodiment shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a sectional View of said embodiment taken along the line 6-6of Fig. 4. V

Y Fig. 7 is a sectional -view similar torFig. 3 of an embodiment of myinvention employing a single eccentrically mounted lower pintle, inwhich the bearings thereof contain ball bearings. Y

Fig. 8 isa sectional view similar to Fig'. 3 o ffan embodiment of n1y`invention similar 4to` that shown in Fig; 3 employing, however, taperedthrustibearin'g holes and tapered thrust bearings.

- In the drawing, wherein like characters of reference indicate likeparts throughout, I il generally indicates an improved shackleconstructed in accordance with my invention. Said shackle includes theside shacklefplates l 2 and I4, each hav- `be enlarged and is adapted tohave a loop 28 on the end of the spring' to pivotally secure the springend 30 thereto. In the embodiment shown the spring end 30 is the end ofthe usual leaf chassis supporting spring 34.

In order to provide thrust bearings and to permit a swinging movement ofthe spring end 30 relative to the projecting chassis portion 36 Iprovide the lower cylindrical bearings 38 adapted to revolve in thecylindrical bearing holes I6 and having eccentrically disposed holes 40similarly disposed on opposite bearings 38 having key means 42 thereinadapted to register in the groove or spline means 46 in the ends 44 ofthe lower pintle 22 thus providing for detachable securement of saidcylindrical bearings 38 on the ends of said lower pintle so that thepintle will be similarly eccentrically mounted on each of the respectivebearings 38. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 6 the upper pintle 24 issimilarly eccentrically mounted on the cylindrical bearings 3B Withinthe upper bearing holes I8 and has the projecting end 36 of the chassissecured thereto. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 2-3 and Fig. 7,however, the upper pintle 24 comprises the bolt adapted to projectthrough said upper bolt holes 2n and through a suitable hole 58 thereforin the projecting chassis end 36 and to be rigidly secured thereto bythe nuts 52 threaded on to each end thereof, and if desiredsupplementally splined thereto by means of the spline 5I in the chassisand splines 53 in the side plates tting into the groove 55 on the boltalthough if desired the upper end of the side plates may be rigidlysecured thereto in any suitable manner. It is thus obvious that in thisembodiment the upper end of the side plates I2-I4 will be rigidlysecured to the projecting end 46 of the chassis and that the spring end30 pivotally secured to the revolvable lower pintle 22 will beeccentrically revolvably mounted on said thrust bearings 38 within saidlower bearing holes I6, therebypermitting a relative swinging movementbetween ,the chassis 36and spring 30 with the bearings 38 working intheir respective holes I6 functioning additionally as thrust bearingswith their attendant friction -to take up some of the shock. It is alsoapparent that the relative swinging movement between the projectingchassis end and the spring end will be limited by the amount ofeccentricity or the amount that the lower pintle 22 is offset from thecenter of the cylindrical bearings 38. While I have shown the bearingsand their holes as truly cylindrical, it is obvious that `they may beinclined to form tapered frustro-cones if desired'as shown in Fig. 8.

InA the embodiment shown in Figs. 4-6 the upper pintle 24 is alsoeccentrically revolvably mounted in the upper end of the side shackleplates I 2-I 4, thereby providing also a swinging movement between theupper ends of the shackle and the chassis portion 36. It is obvious thatin the embodiments shown in Figs. 1-3 and 'l that the nuts 52 hold theside plates together against the chassis portion 36. In the embodimentshown in Figs. 4-6, however, I provide the supplemental bolt 56 suitablyprovided with the nuts 58 on the threaded ends thereof for holding theside plates together, said bolt being provided with the spacingshoulders 51 to provide free swinging movement of the side platesrelative the chassis part 36 and spring 30. In the embodiment shown inFig. 7 I provide the additional ball bearing means 60 for mounting thelower cylindrical bearings 38 within the bearing holes I6. If desiredthe lower bearings may be made split or tapered for this purpose for theinsertion of the ball bearings 60 between the parts thereof or may beconstructed as shown with the split bearing portions 62 partiallyfilling up said holes I6. It is apparent therefore that I have provideda novel type of spring shackle for vehicles constructed of a minimumnumber of` working parts relatively easy to construct with theadvantages portrayed above.

It is understood that my invention is not limited to the Ysciiicembodiments shown and that various deviations may be made therefromwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is: Y

1. In a vehicle spring construction, spaced mounting means mounted on aportion of said vehicle, revolvable thrust bearing means revolvablymounted on each of said mounting means against axial movement thereonand a shackle pintle rigidly and similarly eccentrically mounted on eachof said revolvable thrust bearing means adapted to have a spring endpivotally secured thereto.

, 2. In a vehicle, shackle means, upper and lower thrust bearing meansrespectively revolvably mounted on the upper and lower ends of saidshackle means, an upper pintle secured to a portionof said vehicle andeccentrically mounted on said upper thrust bearing means and a lowerpintle secured to a spring end and eccentrically mounted on said lowerthrust bearing means.

3. In a spring vehicle shackle, shackle plates having aligned outwardlytapered bearing holes on the innersurface thereof, a pintle, outwardly4tapered bearings similarly eccentrically attached for holding saidplates together.

ROBERT s'rEvENsoN.

